(Washington, D.C.) – Just in time for the first Presidential debate, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today released the lifetime ratings of each declared 2016 Presidential candidate who served in Congress, based on their most recent elected office.  The ratings, which have been issued annually since 1990, identify which members of Congress voted to protect taxpayers and which voted against their interests on spending and taxes. 

The average rating of the declared Democratic candidates (excluding Lincoln Chafee, who was an elected Republican senator but is running as a Democrat) is 9 percent.  The average rating of the declared Republican candidates is 88 percent.  These figures track closely to the CCAGW 2014 Congressional Ratings averages of all Senate Republicans and Democrats, which are 85 percent and 5 percent, respectively, as well as House Republicans and Democrats, which are 84 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

CCAGW President Tom Schatz said, “The candidates’ ratings reiterate the substantial gap between Republicans and Democrats on spending and taxes.  They also once again show that Hillary Clinton’s voting record is much closer to Bernie Sanders’ voting record than many people might believe.  Under CCAGW’s rating categories, every Democratic candidate is “hostile,” and all Republicans, except Bobby Jindal, are “taxpayer heroes.”  The highest ratings belong to the three most recently-elected senators – Ted Cruz at 99 percent, and Rand Paul and Marco Rubio at 95 percent.  While there are many ways to evaluate candidates and the ratings cover only those who served in Congress, CCAGW’s lifetime ratings are a valuable tool for voters during the long race for President.”

** Lincoln Chafee served in the Senate as a Republican.

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.